Environment: Why Does the Gem Cross the Road?

THE Gem of Egypt, which looks something like a cross between a lobster
and a skyscraper, stands 20 stories high and weighs 7,000 tons. Tearing
up earth at a rate of 200 tons per bite, the Hanna Coal Co.'s Gem
(actually an acronym for Giant Earth Mover) has stripped the top 80 ft.
of soil off the area around Hendrysburg, Ohio, so that other machines
can gouge out the underlying coal. Now the Gem wants to move across
Interstate Highway 70 and chew its way toward Barnesville (pop. 4,300),
ten miles to the south.